Chapter 7: A
Practical Joke
Geet
was looking out into the window as the plane geared up for take off. She took
out her ipod from her handbag, plugged in the earphones, and relaxed back into
her seat. One of her favorites songs from the movie Anniyan was playing. It
always made her smile when she listened to the song, Iyengar veetu azhage, sung
by the talented Hariharan. Her Pappa particularly liked this song and always
tried to mouth the difficult Tamil words to impress her mother as she came from
a Tamil background. Anu had often tried correcting that she came from a Iyer
family not Iyengar, but Arvind would brush it off and say that all it mattered
to him that she was a beautiful Tamilian like the song meant. Her father always
found a cute way to impress her mother. Ah! How she wished she would also find
her love of her life and settle down to experience the bliss of marital life. Since
she grew up in a small family with no siblings she always dreamed of living in
a large joint family, surrounded by a lot of kids. Her dream was disturbed when
she sensed a kind of commotion. She took off her earphones and peeked from her
seat to see what was happening when suddenly a man walked by to her seat and
slumped beside her seat. The suddenness of the event did not allow her to
comprehend who sat beside her. "Tum!" she screamed. Hearing her scream, the man
beside her turned to face her. The instance he saw Geet, his face contorted as
if he had seen the most loathsome image of a horrific death scene.
"Tum?"
Maan retaliated. "Are you not happy with the tamasha you created on the road?
Now you have followed me here too?" he asked hitting his head.
"First
of all you were the one who was rude enough to walk away from saying a sorry.
And listen mujhe koi shauk nahi tumare peeche karne ki, I came to sit here
before you, so technically you are the one following me around," she responded.
"Look
here, I am no mood to argue with an irritating idiot like you. So if you could
please stop your nonsense bak bak, I can take a nap," Maan said eyeing her with
a scorn.
"Irritating
what?" Geet said with her wide eyes trying to blink back her tears. Nobody has
scolded her. And here this man was calling her an idiot no, in fact an
irritating idiot. Could he behave any worse than he was doing right now, she
reasoned within herself.
"Kyun,
you didn't hear me, I said an irritating idiot!" he repeated a little more
loudly this time. That was the limit she thought. This man had the guts to call
her names, she motioned for the airhostess and requested her a seat change as
soon as possible.
"Is
this seat okay ma'am, I am sorry there is no other seat" the airhostess asked
while Geet found herself again beside Maan. Except now he was in her window
seat and she was sitting beside him in the aisle seat. She had requested for a
seat change, a seat far away from the man she abhorred, and here she was in a
different seat right beside him! Maan who was looking at this from the corner
of his eyes and chuckled at her plight. The airhostess had requested him to
switch seats with Geet, as she had requested a seat change. Not wanting any
further arguments, he simply switched his seat. And here she was just right
beside him.
She looked up, "Muruga! Enappa
intha sothanai, vethanai vethanai (Muruga, why this test, very bad)," she said
aloud hitting her head. Maan shook his head looking at her childish behavior of
talking to herself. He had never seen someone talk so much, that too in front
of him when people feared to even mouth two words properly. Her behavior and
her antiques were really alien to him. He thought that if he would further
indulge in any kind of talking with her, probably he would go crazy, so he
decided to keep quiet. He slowly tried to nod off to sleep when he heard her
clearing her throat. He opened his eyes to find her facing him with a pleading
look on her face. He cocked his eyebrows as if asking her what did she want
now. Geet gulped bits of saliva, gave a quick smile, and asked hesitantly, "If
you don't mind could I get back my window seat. I only like sitting on the
window seat. And now that I no option but to sit beside you, I would rather
face the window than look your face."
"Listen, I have already had to
switch seats with that couple who couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
And thanks to you, I again switched at the request of the airhostess. I am not
moving any further. So just turn around and close your eyes you don't have to
look at me," he said with a tinge of annoyance for being pushed around the
flight. Geet muttered under her breath and before she could say anything
further, Maan folded his hands, closed his eyes, and plugged in a pair of
earplugs to prevent listening to Geet's annoying complaints.
"Ugh!" she said furiously. She had
sweetly requested him and he had denied her outright. "Jellyfish!" she shouted.
It was no point trying to argue with a man as stubborn as a donkey and as
heartless as a stone. Even the quiet walls of room would respond back to her
pleas but this despicable man would never utter a single word to her crying
pleas. She gave arguing with him and turned around trying to find a way to her
get back her window seat. Thinking about a way, she slightly dosed off and the
plane finally took off.
After half hour, a slight tap on
her shoulder awaked her. She was annoyed to find Maan was motioning her to get
up so that he could use the washroom. He had called her an irritating idiot;
she would not forgive him easily for his rude name-calling. And acceding to his
request would be the last thing she would ever do. She just turned around
pretending she felt or saw anything. He again tapped her as he cleared his
throat so that he could ask her to get up so that he could use the washroom.
"Excuse me, could you please move,
I have to use to washroom," he said a bit hesitantly. Seeing she did not move,
he again repeated his request a bit louder.
Geet looked at him, "Kya? I am
sorry I can't hear," she said rubbing her ears and coming near Maan.
"Didn't you hear what I said?" he
said getting annoyed at her latent response.
Not grasping the emergency of the
situation she coolly responded, "En kaathu ketkaathu (this is meant as a joke
and translating it would not help the person reading the joke but it literally
means I cannot hear)" laughing a musical laughter.
"I am sorry, come again," Maan said
not comprehending what she said and why she was laughing. He eyed her insane
behavior with suspicion and nodded his head blaming what had he done to travel
in discomfort. Finally, not wanting to her tirade he motioned her to stop
laughing, "I am least bothered by what you said, could you just please for
heaven sake move, else you have to face dire consequences," he warned. Geet
suddenly stopped laughing and eyed him suspiciously.
She was about to move when she sat
back and looked at him as though she would do it only if she was offered
something in return. "I shall move, but ek shart pe," she said, "if you want to
get out, then I shall return to my window seat."
"Is that all? If so please go
ahead, but before that could you please move," he said folding his hands and
praying that he pass through her. Geet flashed a smirk and a victory smile and
got out of the seat so that he could go use the washroom. As soon as he went
she jumped into her favorite window seat. She did a quick happy dance in her
mind for finally sitting in her window seat. Maan returned to find Geet
grinning; she looked like a little kid who won a piece of candy. Strangely
insane was the only word he could think of describing her. He settled back in
his seat to catch up on his remaining nap before the plane was scheduled to
land in Delhi airport.
The rest of the journey was
uneventful as both Maan and Geet were engrossed in their world. He was
peacefully napping while she was looking out of the window while listening to
her ipod. The plane smoothly landed and the captain welcomed the passengers to
Delhi and thanked the passengers for their cooperation. Maan and Geet got up
from their seats silently, gathered their things, and slowly filed out of the
plane not wanting to acknowledge each other. They walked into the arrival
section, turned their backs towards each other and walked away praying that
they never have see each other ever in their lives. The whole incident seemed
like a practical joke played by the Almighty, projecting and predicting their future.
Okay guys here is the next part. Hope u like it 😃 please do comment or at least hit the like button!
Edited by Maaneet_09 - 13 years ago
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